One-third to each



L. B. MORGAN; A Plow and Cultivator Hand1es'.

No. 226,535. Patentd'April'13', I880.

INVBNTOB- Jae/WW WITNESSES:

Z4! I v M A. ATTORNEYS.

".PETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPNER, WASHINGTON. D C

means of a bar,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. I

LEWIS B. MORGAN, OF WEST LIBERTY, WEST VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN E. WAYT, OF ALEXANDER, PENNSYLVANIA,

SAME PLACE, AND WILLIAM RICE, JR., OF WEST ONE-THIRD TO EACH.

PLOW AND CULTIVATOR HANDLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 226,535, dated April 13, 1880.

1 Application filed September 5, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEWIs B. MORGAN, of West Liberty, in the county of Ohio and State of West Virginia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Plow and Cultivator Handles; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same. 7

In using ordinary plows and cultivators on hill-sides or sloping ground they must be set and held laterally inclined, so that one of their fixed handles is thus in front of the person guiding the implement. Should the team suddenly come to a halt, in consequence of the implement meeting an obstruction or from other cause, the plowman is liable to injury by contact of such handle with'his body. Besides this, the labor and difficulty of holding the implement are also greatly increased by reason of the handles assuming the same inclination as its frame relative to the groundsurface being worked.

To avoid this objection the handles have been pivoted at their front ends, and their rear portions supported on a curved bar and made adjustable from side to side.

My invention is an improvement in this line; and it consists in the construction and arrangement of parts, as hereinafter described and claimed.

In accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a side view of a cultivator constructed according'to my invention and having its handles set laterally inclined. Fig. 2 is aplan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a cross-section.

A indicates the forked frame of a cultivator. A semicircular bar, B, is attached to the beam, thus constituting an arch which stands nearly vertical.

The divergent handles 0 C are pivoted at their front ends, a, to the front portion of the cultivator, and supported on said arch by D, which connects the handles and is curved coincident-1y with the arch B, upon which it rests. At about the middle of their length the handles 0 are connected with the beams A by means of apivoted bifurcated link, E. Thus the handles 0 O are adapted to be shifted in position laterally in the arc of a circle coincident with the arch B, the

curved bar D in such case sliding on the arch in one lateral direction or the other, and the handles turning simultaneously on the pivot to, as will be readily understood.

To hold the handles fixed in any position or adjustment I employ a locking device, F, which is in the nature of a spring-catch, pivoted to the handle-bar D, andtaking into any one of a series of notches, 1), formed in the front edge of the arch B. To raise the catch F, and thus allow the handles 0 to be shifted laterally, I employ a rod, G, and elbow-lever H, the latter being pivoted to the rear portion of the handles, so that it may be con veniently grasped and operated while the team is in motion.

By the above-described construction and arrangement of parts it results that in cultivating on sloping ground the handles Q may be held in the same position relative to the body of the person guiding the implement as when working on level groundthat is to say, so that he may walk between them, or slightly in rear of but equidistant from them, whereby the danger and difficulty attending the use of cnltivators and plows having non-adjustable handles are avoided.

In order to enable the horse or other draftanimal to walk in the middle of the space between the rows of corn or other crop being cultivated, and yet enable the implement to be held so that the shovels will work near the hills or on the ridge, a triangular clevis may be attached to the beam A, and the whiffletree attached to its outer corner, 0. Said clevis may be attached to the beam in various ways.

As previously intimated, I am aware that handles of cultivators or plows have been made laterally adjustable on a curved supporting-bar; but such construction forms no part of my invention.

What I claim is- The combination of the handles 0, cross-bar D, spring-catch F, the rod and lever G H, the latter placed contiguous to the rear end of the handles, and the plow-beam and notched arch B, as shown and described.

LEWIS B. MORGAN.

Witnesses:

J 0s. A. STANTON, WM. P. KIMMINS. 

